


Visions of Things To Be

by Anonymous



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - MASH setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Not Beta Read, Other Characters Cameo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26709751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: In which Wally West gets drafted to fight in Korea, Artemis Crock signs on as an army nurse to follow him. And they fall in love with Dick Grayson along the way.
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Dick Grayson/Wally West
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33
Collections: Anonymous, DCU Rarepair Exchange 2020





	Visions of Things To Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunamaryllis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunamaryllis/gifts).



> This is my second fic written for the DCU rarepair exchange, because shower brain cannot be controlled. The central prompt here being "80s AU (or at least 20th century)", which I only touched on tangentially
> 
> I did do some research into the Korean (and Vietnam) War, but I'm calling this M*A*S*H setting anyway. The 4077th never existed outside fiction and it's also where I got most of my inspiration and information so...
> 
> Title comes from the M*A*S*H movie theme "suicide is painless".

#### 10.

The final arrow hits the target with a solid "thunk" and Artemis lowers her bow and breathes.

"Wow, Nurse Crock, that's really impressive," the kid - barely eighteen, god - next to her says blithely. Artemis gives him a withering look.

"Too much spread," she tells him. "With a proper bow at this range, I should have a much tighter grouping." She marches over to the target and pulls the arrows out easily. The target really needs to be replaced already. She returns to the kid and tries not to think about what he's doing. "Why are you here, Private?"

"I said you can call me Dick, didn't I?" the kid asks, batting his eyes at her flirtatiously. Artemis scoffs at him. "Why are any of us here? For war."

Artemis surveys the minefield they're standing on the edge of and privately admits he has a point. However. "Not the question I asked and you know it. Why are you doing your-" she trails off and eyes him pointedly. He grins and touches his toes. Artemis looks away for her own sanity. " _That_ next to me?" He has his legs spread wider than is decent on any human being.

"I'm stretching," the kid informs her. He releases his split and then immediately contorts himself backwards into a spine-snapping curve. Artemis shudders. "It's good to stretch properly everyday for a full range of motion."

"There is 'a full range of motion' and then there's 'utter lack of skeletal system or human decency," Artemis informs him primly. She considers her bow and arrows for a moment.

"What have I told you, Dick?" Wally asks from behind them both, voice steady despite still jogging. He stops and stretches - like a normal person, thank you - before grinning at them. That silly lopsided grin that Artemis first fell in love with. "If you have to twist into shapes worthy of a horror film, do it where the commies can see."

"What? No!" The kid yelps, springing back into human form. "Wally, be reasonable. My good looks, Wally. My good looks. How will I charm the rubes out of their coin if I get shot out here?" Wally reaches out to slap at him but he darts away, heading back to the main camp.

Instead, Wally swings a sweaty arm over Artemis's shoulder and she grimaces, but doesn't make him remove it.

"Wallace West," she says, enunciating clearly like their high school English teacher. He looks at her, not bothering to wipe the stupidly love struck look off his face. She raises an eyebrow at him; very judgemental, very _are you sure you want to set your heart on this one?_.

"Yes, Artemis Crock?" he echoes. He kisses her temple in that way he knows she likes and looks at her with that exact same expression.

"Why did I agree to marry you?"

#### 2.

Wally followed all the other men onto the plane with a heavy heart. He didn't especially want to go to war, but it wasn't like he had a choice. That's what it meant to be called up by the draft board.

He reached into his pocket for comfort and had a moment of panic when he couldn't find it, couldn't find the box he'd been carrying around for eight months.

"Keep moving!" the guy behind him barked, shoving at him and snapping Wally out of it.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Wally said and quickly found his seat.

Eight months spent trying to find the right time, and then he's being shipped off to war. Not a good thing to carry into combat, an engagement ring. Not a good thing to carry into training, either.

#### 8.

The truck hit yet another pothole and Dick just wished they'd get to where they were going already. He didn't remember travelling with the circus being much like this.

Of course, the circus didn't involve an active war zone and everyone carrying rifles.

The truck bounced again and the guy next to Dick retched over the back of the truck. "You nervous, West?" their commanding officer asked, a bit harshly in Dick's opinion. "Want to go crying home to your mommy?"

"No sir," the guy - West, apparently - wheezed, "just motion sick." He retched again and Dick decided to take pity on him.

"Here," he said, pulling West back onto the bench. He unscrewed his canteen and offered it out. "Rinse." West does as told and gratefully hands back the water. Dick rewards him with one of the mints he harmed out of the lady at the airfield in Tokyo.

"Thanks," West says, sucking on the candy. "How are you not-" the truck jumps again and Wets belches. "How are you dealing with this so well?"

"I used to travel a lot with my parents as a kid. Dick Grayson; Private first class," Dick introduced.

"Wally West, Corporal," West returned. He held his hand out and Dick shook it.

#### 9.

Artemis pushed her way into the Colonel's office with no heed for the clerk trying to stop her or the army's chain of command.

"You can't let her transfer me!" Artemis said, slamming her hands on the desk in her fury.

"Why yes, Nurse Crock, do come in," Colonel Gordon said pointedly. "I'm not at all busy and do care to listen to your complaints."

"Colonel," Artemis growled. The colonel sighed.

"All nursing matters are under the purview of Major Kane as head nurse. She is well in her rights to transfer you. Apparently, you are a distraction.

"I'm being punished for being new. Give it a week and Doctors Carter and Kord will get over themselves. "If anyone should be punished, it's them!"

"Take a look at my desk, Nurse Crock. I have to keep this madhouse of a military hospital running; I do not have time to deal with what happens between nurses. That is-" he's interrupted by the door opening. "What is it, Corporal?" the Colonel snaps.

"General MacArthur on the phone for you, sir," the kids said. Artemis settles in to wait. Colonel Gordon glared at her but did not say anything, too busy with his "yes, sir"s and "no, sir"s. When he finally got off the phone he hung his head in his hands.

Suddenly the door flew open again and the two doctors walked in. They paused when they see Artemis glaring at them, but not for long.

"Colonel!" Doctor Carter said, slamming his hands on the desk in the same manner as Artemis had. "You can't transfer Nurse Crock, she's the best we have."

Colonel Gordon lifted his head to glare at all three of them. " _You_ don't want Nurse Crock transferred, Nurse Crock doesn't want to be transferred and the General is sending his champion boxer down here for a match. What do you think I'm going to prioritise, there?"

"Well what's wrong with the guy you had boxing last year?" Doctor Kord asked.

" _She's_ gone." Colonel Gordon snapped. "But if you two can arrange a win, I might be able to see about getting Nurse Crock back."

"But Colonel! We're doctors. What do we know about boxing?"

"Well you better get something worked out, then, hadn't you?"

"I can box," Artemis said. All three of them jumped as if they'd forgotten she was there. "My father taught us as little girls. I can win this match for you if you keep me here."

"Sold!" Colonel Gordon agreed.

Artemis stood up and began to lead the two doctors out of the poor Colonel's office.

"Nurse Crock?" Colonel Gordon asked before she could leave. "Why do you want to stay with our M*A*S*H unit so bad?"

"My fiancé is on the front line near here. I'd like the chance to see him."

#### 1.

Artemis had finished her shift to find there was a man waiting for her outside the hospital. "What're you doing here, Wally?" She had asked, smiling despite herself.

"I thought we could take a walk, see the sights, get dinner," Wally had told her, hands fidgeting in his pockets nervously. He'd been doing that a lot over the few months earlier, but she couldn't imagine what kind of touch stone he had in there.

"I just finished work. And don't you have classes tomorrow?" She had watched his face carefully. Wally's a gentleman, but he hasn't felt he needed to walk her home from work since that time she beat up a group of gang members on 43rd street.

"Yeah, I know, it's just," he had tried to say and she could tell he was prevaricating.

"Wally," she sighed.

"Will you marry me?" He pulled a box out of his pocket and held it out to her. "I didn't want it to be like this. I wanted it to be perfect and romantic and everything you deserve when I finally asked you but." He stopped and Artemis had felt like a block of ice had been dropped right in her intestines.

"But?" She'd asked.

"I've been drafted," Wally admitted, sheepish. "I ship out next week."

"Wallace West!" Artemis had shrieked. Someone whistled and she realised they were still standing outside the hospital. She grabbed him by the elbow and started walking.

"You've been dragging that ring around for how long and you're only asking now because the Draft Board called you up?"

"Yes," Wally admitted, dragging his feet slightly. "Eight months. I just didn't want to go without-" He stops but she knows him. She knows what he didn't say.

Artemis sighed. She realised marriage wasn't a difficult decision for her, not once he'd finally asked.

"I won't marry you," she told him, "Not before you ship out. You come back alive and then I'll see you at the altar." She had seen his slightly ashamed crestfallen expression lighten up into that overly cheerful one she had hated him for when they were kids but adores now. She kissed him. "Let's go, you goof."

#### 7.

 _This is a terrible idea,_ Wally thought to himself. He was crawling on his belly up a hill in the fog, rifle slung over his shoulder, Dick several feet to his left and Sergeant Reyes several feet to his right. Supposedly the enemy were hunkered down on the other side of the rise.

"This can't end well," Someone said from the other side of the sergeant.

Wally thinks maybe the General or whoever that ordered this should be up here with them, crawling through thinning fog.

They reached the top just in time for their cover to dissipate and suddenly Wally was staring at the wrong end of several rifles.

Something heavy slammed into Wally's side and they went rolling back down the way he came, just before the sound of rifle fire rang out through the night. When they finally stopped, he saw that it was Dick who pushed him, Dick who was still attached to him.

"What?" Wally asked as he stared at that stupid grin that had gotten him into as much trouble as it had gotten Dick out of. And then he was no longer staring at that grin.

Because Dick was kissing him.

Then Dick pulled back, frowning at Wally's lack of participation.

"Artemis is going to kill me," Wally breathed, before pulling Dick back in.

#### 12.

Dick grins at Artemis when she catches up to him and Wally at lunch. She points at him and tells him to stop in almost the exact same way the sisters from the church used to.

"I never knew a M*A*S*H unit could be so busy," Wally says, staring into his rations glumly. "I mean, I knew; but it's different actually seeing it."

"That was light casualties," Artemis tells them. "You didn't have to help out, you know. Aren't you supposed to be on R and R?"

"That was light?" Wally blurts out. Dick thinks about what happened to their unit and he's not hungry anymore. He pushes the rest of his lunch over to Wally.

Artemis must notice, because she starts asking questions. "So, Dick. Wally tells me you signed up for tour voluntarily," she grins and leans in conspiratorially, "Are you trying to impress a girl back home?"

"Oh, no. There's no one," Dick tells her. Then he figures it can't hurt, so he continues talking. "I aged out of the orphanage in the Fall. didn't have anywhere else to go so I thought I'd get my service over and done. When I have some money, I'll go track down the circus."

"You want to run away and join the circus?" Artemis asks. "Wally didn't mention _that_."

"My family were acrobats, before they died. I would like to go back to it, but even if I can't it would be nice to see Pop Haly and everyone again." It doesn't hurt to talk about the time from before the night his parents fell anymore. Not after months of Wally asking for stories that Dick can only half remember.

Wally finishes eating their lunches then and Dick stands up. "Our leave is almost over, we have to be going."

"Oh," Artemis says. The three of them make their way out of the mess tent to stand around outside.

"You look after each other!" Artemis says suddenly, pulling Wally into a quick hug. When she releases him she holds him by the shoulders and says sternly, "I want to see you stateside when this is all over." She releases him and grabs Dick in a hug just as quick. " _Both_ of you."

#### 3.

Artemis had gotten cornered by another nurse while changing into her street clothes after her shift at the hospital. "So what did your man want the other day? Coming to walk you home after work?"

"Let us please not gossip about my private life," Artemis said, grabbing her bag and coat.

"But Artemis!” one of the student nurses whined. "We all want to know."

"Okay fine," Artemis grumbled. She sat down on the bench. "He asked me to marry him."

"Finally!" someone said, "You two have only been sweet on each other forever."

"Oh Artemis, that's amazing. Do you have a ring?"

"When's the ceremony?"

"Are we going to be invited?"

"Married at Twenty-two."

"I said no," Artemis said and there was a shocked outcry when everyone realized what it meant.

"Honey, why?"

"He only finally asked because he'd been drafted," Artemis admitted. She turned over the thought she'd been having since then. "I said I'd marry him when he got back."

"Oh, Artemis," One of the more gossip inclined nurses had simpered, "What if he doesn't come back?"

"I've been thinking," Artemis said, that thought flipping and turning in her head faster than ever. "I'm going to volunteer as an army nurse. Do some good over there."

"Artemis, no. You can't leave us."

"I'll get away from you lot and your constant gossiping," Artemis teased.

"When are you going to the recruitment office?"

Artemis stands up, grabs her bag and coat and makes for the door. "Now. I'm going now."

#### 15.

"I'm going to carry you over the threshold," Wally decides, eyeing the door and then Artemis.

"Don't you dare!" Artemis scolds him. "You'll drop me. You know you will."

"It's wedding tradition," Wally complains. "The groom carries the bride into their house."

"Well what do you suggest, then?" Dick's voice asks. Wally jumps and turns to see him holding the front door open. "We all know you'll drop Artemis and her gorgeous white dress in the grass if you try."

"Well, uh. Maybe if-"

"This is taking too long," Artemis declared. She scoops Wally up into a bridal carry before he knows what's happening and walks them through the door.

"Can I just say," Dick says with a grin, "You two make a beautiful husband and wife. I'll miss you guys."

"Oh, come off it, Dick." Wally says. "We're keeping you, haven't we been through this already.

"You're not getting rid of us that easily," Artemis says. She dumps Wally in his arms and tows him by the elbow into the bedroom. "Come consummate this marriage with us. You can't expect me to keep up with Wally and his freaky stamina on my own, can you?"

Dick obediently follows her, throwing Wally over his shoulder when he starts protesting too much.

"Dick!" Wally grumbles, slapping his backside in protest.

"Someone come help me out of this dress," Artemis barks. "And then we can finally see how boneless Dick really is."

Dick blushes bright red and throws Wally onto the bed.


End file.
